Bottle washer



March 30, 1954 F, H FRUHUNG 2,673,567

BOTTLE WASHER Filed April 13. 1950 E! INVENTOR.

BY we/z/ Patented Mar. 30, 1954 UNITED STATES RATENT OFFICE BOTTLE WASHER Frederick H. Fruhling, Milwaukee, Wis. Application April 13, 1950, Serial No. 155,630

3 Claims.

The present invention relates generally to improvements in the art of cleansing successive articles, and relates more specically to improvements in the construction and operation of automatic bottle washing mechanisms.

The primary object of my invention is to provide an improved washer for successive articles such as bottles or the like, which is simple and compact in construction and eiiicient in operation.

Many diiferent types of mechanisms for washing and cleansing a succession of advancing bottles, have heretofore been proposed and used commercially in various industries, and while some of these prior Washers have proven quite satisfactory, others have not. Most of the prior automatic bottle washing machines are relatively complicated and therefore require considerable attention and servicing in order to maintain the same in proper operation, while many of the previous washers of this type lack necessary capacity considering the space occupied and the power required to drive them. Then too practically all of the prior automatic washers utilize complex loading and unloading' rigs which are rather unreliable in operation, and some of the previous washing units have the loading and unloading zones at the opposite ends thereof or remote from each other thus making it practically impossible to remove the clean ones from a common station especially when only a single attendant is avail able. In many of these prior machines the conveyors are intermittently advanced thus slowing down the washing operation, and considerable Y breakage of bottles also results from the use of some of the previous bottle washing units.

Itis therefore an important object of the present invention to provide anv improved bottle washing mechanism or system which obviates all of the above mentioned objectionable features, and which meets various requirements in a most effective manner with least attention.

Another important object of this invention is to provide an improved bottle washing unit which functions automatically and continuously to feed the bottles in rapid succession, to, through and from the unit, with utmost precision and with minimum breakage.

A further important object of the invention is to provide various improvements in the construction and operation of mechanical devices for cleansing milk bottles or the like in a sanitary manner, and wherein the dirty and clean bottles may be readily supplied to and delivered from a to supply the dirty bottles and 2 common station near one end of the mechanism.

Still another important object of my invention is to provide an improved washer of the type having an endless conveyor for constantly Aadvancing successive bottles through the cleansing zones, and in which the dirty and clean bottles are fed onto and removed from the conveyor primarily by gravity.

An additional object of my present invention is to provide an improved washing unit embodying an endless series of continuously travelling bottle carrier pockets cooperating with gravity feed and discharge means for automatically depositing the dirty bottles within and for dropping the clean bottles from the successive advancing pockets at a common station located at one end of the unit.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description.

A clear conception of features constituting my present improvement, and of the construction and operation of a typical bottle washer embodying the same, may be had by referring to the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specication wherein like reference characters designate the same or similar parts in the two Views.

Fig. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic side elevation of a typical automatic milk bottle washing unit built in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged somewhat more complete side View of the loading and unloading end of the unit shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a further enlarged side view of a fragment of the bottle unloading mechanism, showing a clean bottle ready to be delivered from one of the carrier pockets; and

Fig. i is a similar view showing the same bottle after it has been delivered from the carrier pocket and has been transferred onto the transverse final bottle discharge conveyor in upright position.

The gist of my present invention is the provision of a washing unit for a succession of bottles or the like, wherein the articles are deposited by gravity at one locality within and are likewise discharged at the same locality from the successive carrier pockets of an endless constantly advancing conveyor for transporting the bottles through the cleansing zones, and while only one specific type of washer especially adapted for cleansing milk bottles has been shown and described, it is not my desire or intent to unnecessarily restrict the utility of the improvement by virtue of this limited showing. It is also contemplated that specic descriptive terms used herein be given the broadest possible interpretation consistent with the disclosure.

Referring to the drawing, the improved automatic milk bottle washing unit shown therein, comprises in general a horizontally elongated housing or casing 4 provide at one end with a common bottle loading and unloading station and having therein a number of bottle cleansing zones; an endless conveyor having an uninterrupted series of parallel rows of bottle carrier pockets 6 constantly movable within the casing through the successive cleansing zones; means located at the station 5 for depositing the dirty bottles 1 by gravity within the successive advancing conveyor pockets 6; other vmeans located at the same station 5 for delivering the clean bottles 1 by gravity from the successive advancing conveyor pockets 6; and a common motor operated power shaft 8 for continuously driving the main conveyor and for assisting gravity in effecting loading and unloading of the bottles 1.

The main casing 4 which houses and protects the bottle conveyor, may be provided with an initial prerinsing and soaking zone or basin ID, a final soaking Zone or tank II, a washing zone I2, an initial rinsing zone I3, and a final rinsing and chlorinating zone I4; and the casing interior is also provided with suitable guides cooperable with rollers I5 associated with pocket supporting links of the endless conveyor to properly conduct the successive pockets 6 through or past the successive cleansing and sterilizing zones. The exterior of the main casing 4 is provided with suitable motor driven pumps I3 for circulating the cleansing liquids through the soaking, washing and rinsing zones, and the unit may also be mounted upon jack screws I1 in order to properly support and aline the same.

The endless conveyor is movably supported within the casing 4 by means of sprocket wheels some of which are adjustable to tension the conveyor chain in a well known manner; and the conveyor is constantly movable to continuously advance the pockets 6, by sprockets I9 which are drivingly connected to the power shaft 8 through a chain drive 20 coacting with gearing as shown in Fig. 2. |The loading and unloading portion of the main conveyor has a series of reverse bends 2|, 22, 23 constituting means for causing the successive carrier pockets 6 to be inverted so as to tilt downwardly and forwardly when the conveyor passes around the driving sprockets I9, and for subsequently causing the successive pockets 6 to be righted so as to tilt upwardly and forwardly while they are approaching the basin I; and this formation of the path of travel of the carrier pockets 6 at the station 5 is maintained by the sprockets I9 and by the roller guides within the casing 4.

The means located at the station 5 for feeding the dirty bottles 1 to the machine and for depositing rows of these bottles by gravity within the successive empty and advancing carrier pockets 6 when these pockets have been righted and tilted upwardly by the lowermost conveyor bend 23, consists primarily of an auxiliary endless conveyor 25 and a transverse bottle tilting feed rack 2B oscillatable about a pivot 21 by a lower revolving cam 28 driven by a pinion mounted upon the power shaft 8, see Fig. 2. This bottle loading cam 28has a cam groove cooperable with a roller 28 carried by an oscillatory lever 30 the swinging lower end of which is connected to a rack oscillat-v ing arm 3I secured to the pivot 21, by means of a link 32. When the rack 26 is swung toward the empty upwardly tilted successive rows of pockets E, the bottles 1 are automatically inverted and deposited into these advancing pocket rows by gravity alone, and no special pushers are required to effect such transfer of the dirty bottles 1 from the feed conveyor 25 to the carrier pockets 6 nor is it necessary to stop the advancing motion of the pockets.

The means also located at the station 5 for discharging the clean bottles 1 from the machine and for receiving rows of these bottles by gravity from within the successive bottle laden and advancing carrier pockets 6 when these pockets have been inverted and tilted downwardly by the uppermost conveyor bend 2l, consists primarily of a transverse conveying chain 34, a series of bottle holding fingers 35 carried by a block which is slidable in slots 35 formed in the side walls of the casing 5, and an oscillatory transfer rack 31 swingable about a pivot 38 to place the bottles 1 which are lowered thereon by the fingers 35, upon the chain conveyor 34, see Figs. 3 and 4. The discharge conveyor 34 may be movable transversely of the machine as shown in Fig. 3, and the holding fingers 35 are movable down and up between the divisions of the rack 31 by one upper revolving cam 39 driven by the power shaft 8 and having a cam groove cooperable with a roller 4D carried by a lever 4i the swinging upper end of which is connected by a link 42 to a lever 43 the lswinging upper end of which is pivotally connected to the block which slides along the slots 35. The bottle transfer rack 31 is swingable back and forth by another upper revolving cam 45 having a cam groove cooperable with a roller 46 carried by a lever 41 the swinging lower end of which is connected by a link 48 to an arm 49 secured to the pivot 33, and again no special pushers are required in order to deliver the clean bottles from the constantly advancing carrier pockets 6.

The links 32, 42, 48 of the bottle loading and unloading mechanism are all formed to deflect in case one or more bottles 1 become jammed during feeding and discharge motion of the conveyor and of the fingers 35 and racks 26, 31; and the several cams 28, 39, 45 are so timed that the ngers 35 and the racks 26, 31 will function to handle the bottles 1 without interrupting the constantly advancing carrier pockets '6, thereby reducing breakage of bottles to a minimum. The cleansing mechanisms within the casing 4, are also constructed to effectively soak, wash and rinse the advancing bottles 1, thus insuring maximum capacity for relatively compact units, and any desired number of the pockets 6 may be provided in each transverse row.

When the various parts of the improved bottle washing unit have been properly constructed and assembled as herein before described, the normal operation of the washer is as follows. The power shaft 8 may be driven by an electric motor or from any other suitable source, to simultaneously constantly advance the pockets 6 through the cleansing zones within the casing 4 and to continuously rotate the cams 28, 39, 45, while cleansing liquid should be circulated through the various cleansing zones. The dirty bottles 1 should then be deposited in upright position upon the auxiliary bottle supply conveyor 25 which progressively feeds these bottles toward the machine and sets them in successive rows against the feed rack25 while in the p osl- ,tion shown in Fig. v2. As each rowof pockets 6;-

proceeds downwardly along the lower bend 23 of the conveyor path, the rack 26 tilts downwardly and the bottles resting thereon slide into the adjacent pockets 6 while in motion, after which the loaded pockets and the bottles l confined therein are promptly prerinsed and immersed within the initial soaking basin IU.

The bottle laden pockets 6 are subsequently transported by the conveyor through the final soaking basin Il and past the washers l2 and rinsers I3, i4 in an obvious manner, and when they reach the sprocket I9 the clean inverted bottles 'I are carried around the upper bend 2| of the conveyor path and are partially righted while they are being advanced onto the holding ngers 35 as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. Immediately thereafter, the fingers 35 will be lowered through the gaps in the rack 3l to permit the row of clean bottles l to descend by gravity upon the upper inclined transfer rack 31, and as soon as a row of bottles has thus descended and been transfered to the rack the latter will swing .forwardly to transfer the clean bottles 'l onto the conveyor 34 as shown in Fig. 3 whereupon the fingers 35 will beelevated to receive the next row of clean bottles. The dirty bottles 'I are thus automatically fed by gravity into and the clean bottles I are likewise discharged from the constantly advancing successive rows of pockets 6 from the common station 5, as the above described cycle of operations is repeated and whenever the machine is operating and dirty bottles are available.

From the foregoing detailed description of the construction and operation of a commercial embodiment of my invention, it should be apparent that I have in fact provided a mechanical bottle washer which besides being simple and compact in construction, is also automatic and efcient in operation. charge of the bottles at a common loading and unloading zone not only simplies the mechanism but facilitates control and operation by a single attendant, and the continuous advancement of the pockets cooperates with the gravity feed and discharge to enhance the capacity to the utmost. The elimination of complex pushers for inserting and removing the bottles 'l into and from the pockets 6 also reduces breakage of bottles to a minimum, and avoids delays due to jamming of bottles by the pushers; and the improved mechanism operates smoothly and with utmost dependability. The formation of the cleansing zones and the path of travel of the conveyor may be varied throughout a considerable range, and the improved washers may be manufactured and operated at moderate cost for handling diverse types of bottles.

It should be understood that it is not desired to limit this invention to the exact details of construction or to the precise mode of operation of the typical bottle washer shown and described herein, for various modifications within the scope of the appended claims may occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In a bottle washer, a casing having therein a succession of bottle cleansing zones and also having a common bottle loading and unloading station at one end thereof, an endless conveyor having thereon a succession of bottle carrier pockets, means for continuously moving said conveyor to constantly advance the successive pockets through said zones and past said station, a loading conveyor for constantly feeding dirty The gravity feed and disbottles in upright position toward said station, means at said station for inverting the dirty bottles and for effecting delivery thereof by gravity from the loading conveyor into the successive constantly advancing empty conveyor pockets, an unloading conveyor for constantly discharging clean bottles at said station in upright position away from said station, downwardly movable fingers cooperable with said carrier pockets for effecting delivery of cleansed bottles by gravity and in tilted condition from the successive constantly advancing loaded conveyor pockets, and means for righting the tilted bottles and for transferring the same from said fingers to said unloading conveyor in upright position.

2. In a bottle washer, a casing having therein a succession of bottle cleansing zones and also having a common bottle loading and unloading station at one end thereof, an endless conveyor having thereon a succession of bottle carrier pockets, means for continuously moving said conveyor to constantly advance the successive pockets through said zones and past said station, a loading conveyor for constantly feeding dirty bottles in upright position toward said station, an oscillatory rack at said station for inverting and for delivering the dirty bottles by gravity from the loading conveyor into the successive constantly advancing empty conveyor pockets, an unloading conveyor for constantly discharging clean bottles in upright position away from said station, vertically reciprocable fingers cooperable with said carrier pockets at said station for effecting delivery of cleansed bottles by gravity and in tilted condition from the successive constantly advancing loaded conveyor pockets, and a second oscillatory rack cooperable with said lingers for righting the tilted bottles and for transferring the same from said fingers to said unloading conveyor.

3. In a bottle washer, a casing having therein a succession of bottle cleansing zones and also having a common bottle loading and unloading station at one end thereof, an endless conveyor having thereon a succession of bottle carrier pockets, means for constantly moving said conveyor to advance the successive pockets through said zones and past said station while the empty pockets are directed downwardly and the loaded bottles are directed upwardly with respect to the station, a loading conveyor at said station for feeding dirty bottles in upright position toward the successive downwardly directed empty pockets, means at said station for inverting and delivering the dirty bottles from the loading conveyor into the successive downwardly directed empty pockets, an unloading conveyor for discharging clean bottles in upright position away from said station, downwardly movable fingers at said station cooperable with the lower ends of the successive upwardly directed loaded pockets for effecting delivery of cleansed bottles by gravity and in tilted condition from said pockets, and an oscillatory rack cooperable with said ngers for righting the tilted bottles and for transferring the same from said lingers to said unloading conveyor.

FREDERICK H. FRUHLIN G.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

